Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters A scope question.. A reasonably price scope for a Mossberg 20 ga. slug gun..

My step daughter wants a scope for her son's 20ga slug gun... What would suit her needs in a reasonably priced scope??? I am a Leupold fan, but this might be out of her price range.. I have thought of Nikon or Burris.. I have also heard that rifle scopes should not be place on a shotgun?? If it is not true, I could get her a rifle scope from my spares... Thanks..

Nikon ProStaff 2-7x32.

Not sure what your budget is, but my 12ga slugger wears Leupold 4X that I bought here, used. IMO, about perfect for that setup. I would look at 4X with plenty of eye relief.

A good rifle scope should be fine. I doubt that parallax will show up with a slug gun. Pick a low power with good eye relief from your spares.

A Bushnell Trophy 1.75-4 is about $120 and the ones I've had were designed for shotguns (circle-x reticle). I've used a couple on .22s, but never on a shotgun. Leupold shotgun/ML scopes are good, but about $230.

http://www.amazon.com/BSA-1-5-4-5X32mm-Shotgun-Turkey-Reticle/dp/B007VSWUNE

The shamanic Dream Team has had a bunch of these $35 BSA scopes mounted on 12 GA turkey guns for the past decade. They take our biggest loads, and SuperCore misjudged the distance last year and managed to "groundsluice" (I like that term) a gobbler at 70 yards. My Mossberg 500 doubles has a matching rifled slug barrel for hunting Ohio's Shotgun Season. I can attest to that scope standing up to 3" slug loads.



Normally I don't go touting BSA, but in this case we have all been most satisfied with the results. The big plus for me with this scope is the eye relief. Previously I had a Bushnell Banner on my turkey gun and took it off, because I could never get my eye in the right spot when I was all bunched up in one of those less than perfect shooting situations.

I would not hesitate to place one of these BSA BOSS scopes on a young man's 20 Gauge slug gun.

I have had a scope come apart like you describe. It was about 10 years ago, and I had bought KYHillChick a Savage 110 in 30-06 for her birthday. It was one of those package deals with the Simmons scope included. I doubt she had put more than a couple dozen rounds through the rifle when parts started sloughing off the scope. We had pretty well blown the budget at that point so I put a BSA 3-9X40 on until we could afford better. That was a decade ago. She still uses it to nail milk jugs at 400 yards, and Angus used that rig as his deer rifle for Yute Season for 5 of those years. It has held zero throughout.

Not a gun writer but I would suggest a Leopold lightweight 2.5X FX-II. It has 4.9" of eye relief and from what I understand is tough as nails.

I have two and like them a lot. I like the wide duplex reticle best. It is still fairly heavy but the wide thin section gives a good view of the animal and it is thick enough to see early and late. The heavy duplex is too heavy in my opinion in this scope.

You can get them for approximately $270.00.

I use a 2x7 Burris FFII on a 20 gauge slug gun....it works out well

Leupold VX-1 1-4x20mm Shotgun scope, I have one on a drilling that I hunt down in the thick stuff for coyotes.

It even works well at longer ranges.

not many hunters put scopes on shotguns since their range is so limited.

I have a Mossberg 500 in 20 gauge with a rifled barrel and cantilever mount on the barrel that is capable of 3" groups at 100 yards with Hornady SST 250 grain sabot rounds. My Iowa deer "rifle".

378Canuck,

Apparently you are behind the times on shotguns with slugs. I've taken deer at over 200 yards with them--and yes, I used a scope.

I like older Weavers on my slug guns, a 2 1/2x with a post reticle has worked fine for me for many years. I was the first in my deer camp to mount a scope on my slug gun. My go to slug gun that has accounted for many whitetails over tha last 20+ years is a Winchester M/25 pump with an E.R. Shaw rifled barrel topped with a Weaver K2.5 with post and crosshair in Weaver top mount. I took my most recent deer with my nephew's Mossberg 20ga. with a Leupold.

Might be behind the times but when they put rifling in a shotgun it seems to fall into a group between rifle and the paradigm term 'Shotgun"

I have had good success with the 1.75-4x32mm Bushnell Banner Shotgun scope. Circle X reticle, ok glass, quick focus ocular and 6 inches of eye relief all for 65-75 dollars new.

There is a Burris in the classified for a decent price....I have some Burris scopes and like them..

I've had a 2.5x 20mm Leupold on an 12 ga. 870 dedicated slug gun since 1987 and another one with a turkey ranger reticle on a 12 ga. Mossberg 500A turkey gun since 2001. Never had a lick of trouble with either of them. If they don't qualify as "reasonably priced", I would suggest just postpone the purchase of one while you save up the extra money needed. It'll be worth it in the long run. A good solid, tough 2.5x with good eye relief is all you need on a slug gun (IMHO). I've taken deer with them at everything from powder burn range to about 100 yards and have shot paper and pumpkins with them further than that. The wider field of view is something I really appreciate in thicker woods and after 27 years on a 12 ga. slug gun and lots of hard knocks on my original 2.5x I'm convinced that those 2.5x 20mm Leupolds are indeed, "tough as nails".

378---I think there are more than a couple of us that think you should stick to something you know about because it's obvious from your two posts on this thread that you are out to lunch on this topic!

+1 on this. I have used this scope on my 20 gauge slug gun for several years.
Not a gunwriter.

Ernie

We must be very forward thinking hunters in Southern Michigan. For at least 30 years most of our slug guns have been scoped. A 2x7 Leupold Shotgun scope has always worked well for me.

Hunter, I think I will have to agree w/28lx but I would opt for the VX1 2-7X33. Keep it on 2 or 4 power and turn it up when needed. powdr